There is no question that skating is the most important element of your hockey playing ability. Coaches and elite players will tell you that no matter what level you play, improving your skating will improve your game.

We suggest that you skate as often as you can, whether it’s playing, at a stick and puck session, or free skate. The more your body is moving on the ice, your muscles and brain are fine tuning your skating abilities.

However, it is also critical that you learn and practice the right way – bad habits can limit your abilities and if they get ingrained, they can take a long time to break. Your best way of improving is to work with someone that understands skating and can give you good feedback and direction.

Learn to Skate Programs

Each rink has Learn to Skate programs designed to take a beginner through a series of lessons to introduce skating concepts and develop the basic skills.  If you haven’t skated much, these are the best places to start:

A couple of points to remember as you start these programs:

  • Learn to skate instructors usually have a figure skating background; make sure you tell them that you’re interested in learning to skate for hockey
  • Learn on hockey skates, not figure skates

Power Skating